Canada's New Leader, ICE Arrest Columbia Student, Congress and The Budget

Summary

Up First from NPR – March 10, 2025

NPR's Up First provides the three biggest stories of the day with in-depth reporting and analysis. In this episode, hosts Leila Fadel, Steve Inskeep, Michel Martin, and A. Martinez delve into Canada's new leadership, the arrest of a Columbia University student by ICE, and the looming government budget crisis in the United States.

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1. Canada’s New Leader and U.S.-Canada Relations

Election of Mark Carney as Prime Minister

Canada has welcomed a new prime minister, Mark Carney, who emerged victorious in a landslide victory within the Liberal Party, securing 131,674 votes. Carney, previously a prominent figure in international finance, including his tenure at the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, is poised to navigate Canada through economic challenges and strained relations with the United States.

Insights from NPR’s Jackie Northam:

“Mark Carney, at 59, brings a wealth of financial expertise that could be pivotal in addressing Canada’s current economic hurdles and its tense relationship with President Trump’s administration.”
— Jackie Northam, [03:03]

Strained U.S.-Canada Relations: The relationship between Canada and the United States has become more contentious under President Trump. Recent interactions between Trump and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been fraught, with Trump derogatorily referring to Trudeau as "governor" and Trudeau criticizing Trump's tariffs as "a very dumb idea."

Notable Quote from Canadian Commentator:

“We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So the Americans, they should make no mistake in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.”
— Unnamed Canadian Commentator, [04:28]

Economic Implications: The impending tariffs imposed by President Trump on Canadian products are anticipated to potentially drive Canada's economy into a recession. Carney has indicated a tougher stance against Trump’s policies, signaling a possible shift towards a more assertive approach in bilateral negotiations.

Future Political Landscape: With general elections looming by the end of October, Carney’s tenure as prime minister may be short-lived. The Liberal Party is currently polling strongly, largely influenced by nationalist sentiments sparked by Trump's policies. There is speculation that Carney might call for an early election to capitalize on this momentum, although opposition parties may challenge this timing.

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2. ICE Arrests Columbia University Student Mahmoud Khalil

Arrest Details: Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident and recent Columbia University graduate, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities. Khalil was a prominent leader in pro-Palestinian student protests advocating for the divestment from Israel over the Gaza conflict.

Circumstances of Arrest: On a Saturday night, Khalil and his wife were entering their university apartment when ICE agents informed Khalil that his green card had been revoked—a claim his lawyer disputes, asserting that Khalil holds lawful permanent residency.

Legal and Procedural Concerns:

“I demanded to see a warrant and have a warrant shown to me or Mr. Khalil before they removed him. And the agent hung up the phone on me.”
— Unnamed Lawyer, [00:29]

Khalil’s attorney, Amy Greer, expressed shock over the abrupt revocation of his residency status without due process. Khalil was subsequently taken to a detention center, while his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen, remained behind.

Government's Justification: A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, stated that Khalil’s arrest was in accordance with a recent executive order aimed at deporting individuals supporting Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also linked Khalil’s arrest to broader efforts to revoke the statuses of Hamas supporters for deportation.

Activist and Community Response: Student activists view Khalil’s arrest as an attempt to suppress free speech and repress pro-Palestinian activism. They argue that the government is mischaracterizing peaceful protests as support for terrorism.

Quote from Khalil’s Attorney:

“Mr. Khalil was under the impression that as a lawful permanent resident that he had some modicum of protection that may not exist for people who do have student visas or who are undocumented.”
— Unnamed Lawyer, [07:22]

Adrian Florido, NPR’s correspondent, reports that Khalil’s legal team is actively seeking to secure his release and ensure he receives fair legal treatment.

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3. U.S. Congress Faces Potential Government Shutdown

Speaker Mike Johnson’s Stopgap Funding Plan: House Speaker Mike Johnson of the Republican Party has unveiled a plan to fund the federal government through September to avert a shutdown. Instead of passing the usual twelve annual spending bills through bipartisan negotiation, Republicans are advocating for an extension of the previous year’s budget numbers as a temporary measure.

Challenges and Political Dynamics: Republicans aim to maintain control over budgetary decisions without negotiating with Democrats, prioritizing the extension of President Trump’s tax cuts over comprehensive spending bills. This strategy has historically required Democratic support, which is unlikely given current opposition.

Insights from NPR’s Susan Davis:

“Republicans aren’t all that interested in that path right now. They really don’t want to burn all of this political capital on spending bills because the party is way more focused on passing a separate budget bill to extend President Trump's tax cuts.”
— Susan Davis, [10:12]

Democratic Opposition: House Democrats, led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have stated their opposition to Speaker Johnson’s plan. Unlike previous instances where bipartisan agreements have been reached to prevent shutdowns, the current stance from Democrats leaves Speaker Johnson needing unanimous support within his party—a challenging feat.

Potential for Government Shutdown: The likelihood of a shutdown hinges on whether the House can pass the stopgap measure by the upcoming vote on Tuesday. If unsuccessful, the government may face closure by Friday. Even if the House approves the plan, passage in the Senate remains uncertain without sufficient Democratic backing.

Presidential Influence: President Trump is exerting pressure on Republican lawmakers to maintain party unity, discouraging dissent. Notably, Texas Congressman Chip Roy, a member of the Freedom Caucus, has pledged support, which might influence other Republicans to align with Speaker Johnson’s proposal.

Quote from Susan Davis:

“Speaker Johnson has never been able to pass these spending bills or stopgats without some Democratic support. And it's unclear if he's going to be able to do it this week either.”
— Susan Davis, [10:02]

Implications for Future Legislation: Democrats are pushing for provisions that prevent the Trump administration from cutting funding for programs that Congress has already appropriated. However, these demands are likely incompatible with the White House’s priorities, signaling a potential deadlock.

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Conclusion

Today's Up First episode highlights significant shifts in international leadership with Canada’s new prime minister facing economic and diplomatic challenges, the controversial arrest of a student activist by ICE under stringent immigration policies, and a critical juncture in U.S. politics where Congress grapples with preventing a government shutdown amidst partisan tensions. These stories underscore the interconnectedness of global politics, individual rights, and governmental responsibilities.

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Produced by:
Tara Neal, Kevin Drew, Krishnadev Kalimor, Alice Wolfley, and Mohamed Elvardisi.
Production Team: Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas, Christopher Thomas.
Engineering Support: Arthur Laurent.
Technical Director: David Greenberg.

Subscribe and listen to more stories at plus.npr.org/upfirst. Support your local NPR station at donate.npr.org.

Transcript

[Steve Inskeep]

Canada's new prime minister says he's ready for conflict with its neighbour and up to now closest ally.

[Unnamed Canadian Commentator]

We didn't ask for this fight. The Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.

[A. Martinez]

What does Mark Carney plan to do?

[Steve Inskeep]

I'm Steve Inskeep with a Martinez and this is up first from NPR News. Immigration authorities arrested a Columbia graduate student who led protests over Gaza. His his lawyer says agents gave no reason.

[Unnamed Lawyer]

I demanded to see a warrant and the agent hung up the phone on me.

[Steve Inskeep]

What due process, if any, does the government owe a legal permanent resident?

[A. Martinez]

Also, Congress has just days to avoid a government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to do it without negotiating with Democrats. What would it take for almost every Republican to agree? Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.

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[A. Martinez]

Gathered at an arena in Canada's capital and heard the results of a vote for the leader of the governing party in first place, the next prime minister of Canada, mark Carney with 131,674 votes.

[Steve Inskeep]

Resulting in Mark Carney won A kind of mini election among Liberal Party members. And his landslide winning means he will now replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who's leaving office just as Canada faces a confrontation with the United States.

[A. Martinez]

NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has been following the story. So, a new chapter in Canadian politics. What can you tell us about Mark Carney?

[Jackie Northam]

Well, up until a few months ago, not a lot of Canadians knew who Mark Carney was. He was considered a political outsider. It was only after Justin Trudeau announced that he was stepping aside in January that Carney threw his hat into the ring for the Liberal Party's leadership race. But Carney, who's 59 years old, does have a reputation internationally. He comes from the world of finance and has spent time on Wall street and was ahead of the bank of England, where he helped navigate the post Brexit turbulence. And he also headed up the bank of Canada. So that experience could be critical as he becomes prime minister, both to tackle Canada's economic challenges right now, but certainly to deal with President Trump's trade policies towards Canada, which, frankly, are seen by many in Canada as.

[A. Martinez]

Yeah, relations between the two have grown contentious since Donald Trump returned to office. So is there any sense of how Carney will approach President Trump and his policies?

[Jackie Northam]

Well, I suspect it'll be a much different dynamic between Carney and Trump than it was with the president and Prime Minister Trudeau. They didn't get along. And in fact, over the past few weeks, relations between the two men were really fraying. You know, Trump calling Trudeau governor, and Trudeau calling the president Donald and quoting an editorial saying the tariffs were a very dumb idea. So Carney could represent a fresh start. But he has warned that he would be very tough on Trump, which is something he indicated in his acceptance speech on Sunday.

[Unnamed Canadian Commentator]

We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So the Americans, they should make no mistake in trade, as in hockey. Canada will win.

[Jackie Northam]

And a, if President Trump goes ahead with these states on Canadian products, and that's expected in April, it could drive Canada's economy into a recession.

[A. Martinez]

And here's the thing. I mean, Carney might not even be prime minister that long. I mean, there are general elections coming up this year. So when are those?

[Jackie Northam]

Well, they need to be held by the end of October. You know, the Liberals have bounced back in a big way in the polls thanks largely to Trump. And his treatment of Canada has created this wave of enthusiasm, you know, both for the Liberal Party, you know, and just nationalism and Carney could grab onto that enthusiasm and call an allowance election soon. The opposition could also launch a non confidence vote when parliament resumes later this month. That too could trigger an early election. But, you know, as it stands right now, once Carney is sworn in as Canada's new prime minister, and that could happen later this week, he'll lead the country.

[A. Martinez]

All right. That's NPR's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northam. Jackie, thanks.

[Jackie Northam]

Thanks very much.

[A. Martinez]

Immigration agents have arrested an activist who helped lead pro Palestinian student protests at Columbia University.

[Steve Inskeep]

His name is Mahmoud Khalil. His lawyer tells NPR that officers from ice, that's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, picked him up at his university apartment. They told him his green card had been revoked. Green card? He was a legal permanent resident. President Trump had promised to deport students who protested against Israel during the war in Gaza.

[A. Martinez]

NPR's Adrian Florido is here with us now. So tell us who Mahmoud Khalil is and what happened to him.

[Adrian Florido]

Well, Khalil A was one of the Palestinian students who last year negotiated on behalf of the campus protesters who were pressing Colombia to divest from Israel over the Gaza war. He was outspoken, very involved. He recently graduated. I spoke with his lawyer and she told me that on Saturday night, Khalil and his wife were arriving at their university apartment and that ICE agents were in the lobby. They told Khalil his student visa had been canceled. But Khalil is not on a visa. He is a legal permanent resident. When his wife went to get his green card out of the apartment, agents said that it had been revoked.

[A. Martinez]

Revoked? Did they give a reason?

[Adrian Florido]

Well, his lawyer, Amy Greer, says she spoke with one of the agents on the phone during the arrest and he didn't give her a reason.

[Unnamed Lawyer]

And I demanded to see a warrant or have a warrant shown to me or Mr. Kahlil before they removed him. And the agent hung up the phone on me.

[Adrian Florido]

Agrier said that she was shocked the government had declared his green card revoked without due process.

[Unnamed Lawyer]

Mr. Khalil was under the impression that as a lawful permanent resident that he had some modicum of protection that may not exist for people, you know, who do have student visas or who are undocumented.

[Adrian Florido]

Instead, agents drove Khalil to a detention center, she said, while his pregnant wife, a US Citizen, stayed behind.

[A. Martinez]

Okay, now what are you learning about what's behind all this, possibly?

[Adrian Florido]

Well, I got a statement last night from DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. She said Khalil had been arrested in support of a recent executive order that President Trump signed On anti Semitism. She said Khalil had, quote, led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Separately, in a post on X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio linked to a news story about Khalil's arrest and wrote that the administration would be revoking the visas or green cards of Hamas supporters so they can be deported.

[A. Martinez]

Can you give us just maybe a little more context about the government's motives here?

[Adrian Florido]

Well, conservative lawmakers have really tried to label pro Palestinian protesters as pro Hamas, pro terrorist or anti Semitic. In late January, President Trump signed an executive order that he said would be used to go after students who participated in, in his words, the pro jihadist protests. It directed federal agencies to work toward deporting international students who participated. The order cited federal law that allows deporting foreign nationals who express support for terrorism. Students have always rejected a the claim that their protests were pro terrorist or that they supported Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel. They say the protests were for peace in Gaza.

[A. Martinez]

How are people responding to this arrest?

[Adrian Florido]

Well, student activists are denouncing it as a chilling attempt to use deportation to stifle free speech and to repress pro Palestinian activism and criticism of Israel. Khalil's attorney, Amy Greer, told me that she's angry the government was attempting to tar Khalil as anything other than the kind and loving person that he is. She has a legal team that is trying to find out where he's being held and that plans to defend him and to ensure that he gets due process.

[Ron Rudson]

All right.

[A. Martinez]

That's NPR's Adrian Florido. Thanks a lot.

[Adrian Florido]

Thank you, Leigh.

[A. Martinez]

Over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a plan to keep the federal government running through September.

[Steve Inskeep]

They're doing what lawmakers have done again and again and again and again in recent years. Instead of passing the annual 12 spending bills in what's called regular order with a lot of choices and compromises, Republicans want to largely keep the government running on autopilot under last year's budget numbers for a while. While they discuss all this, Congress needs to approve something by Friday or face another government shutdown.

[A. Martinez]

NPR political correspondent Susan Davis is here now. So Republicans control Congress and the White House. So, sue, why couldn't they come up with a plan to pass the annual spending bills instead of this stopgap?

[Susan Davis]

You know, for Republicans, that would have been like choosing the path of most resistance. Passing all 12 of those bills usually requires an incredible amount of party unity and would also have likely required bipartisan negotiations with Democrats. Republicans aren't all that interested in that path right now. They really don't want to burn all of this political capital on spending bills because the party is way more focused on passing a separate budget bill to extend President Trump's tax cuts. That is the priority focus for the Republican Party over the next several months because they expire at the end of the year. But even the stopgap path is going to test party unity. Speaker Johnson has never been able to pass these spending bills or stopgats without some Democratic support. And it's unclear if he's going to be able to do it this week either.

[A. Martinez]

Yeah, Democrats were purposefully cut from this process. Are they going to support it?

[Susan Davis]

Well, the top House Democratic leaders over the weekend came out and said they're going to oppose it. This is unlike past deals where Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has helped deliver the votes to avoid these shutdowns. If House Democrats remain unified against it, the speaker is essentially going to need unanimous support from within his own party, and that's going to be tough.

[A. Martinez]

That sounds like a place where the president could step in, though.

[Susan Davis]

Yeah, I mean, President Trump is certainly trying to keep pressure on the Republican rank and file. In a social media post over the weekend, he was asking for, quote, no dissent on this, and there's a sign he might get it. One of those traditional hardline conservatives who likes to vote against these types of spending bills, that's Texas Congressman Chip Roy. He's also a member of the Freedom Caucus. He's indicated that he will support it, which is a good sign for the Speaker.

[A. Martinez]

So, considering all this, Sue, I mean, how likely is a shutdown on Friday?

[Susan Davis]

You know, I think it's going to be pretty clear early in the week. The House is expected to vote on Tuesday, and if they can't pass a bill, the shutdown becomes exponentially more likely by Friday. If they can pass that hurdle, a handful of Democrats are still going to be necessary to get it through the Senate. At least one of those Democrats, Pennsylvania's John Fetterman, has indicated he'll be on board. It's unclear if others will be. And Trump is already trying to put the blame on Democrats if there is a shutdown. But I think that's going to be a bit of a hard sell when it's his party that controls all the levers here. And have also made clear that Democrats didn't have a seat at the table.

[A. Martinez]

For Democrats, though, what might they want in this deal?

[Susan Davis]

I mean, Democrats were trying to get language into any deal that was going to make it harder for the Trump administration to cut off funding for things that Congress has already appropriated money for. Obviously, in response to things like cutting off funding for usaid, they wanted to tie the hands of this ongoing DOGE effort. And that was obviously going to be a nonstarter for this White House. I also think it tells you a that as long as Republicans are in control of Congress, they're not going to be putting up much of a fight over the Trump administration's push to play a bigger role here in deciding what money gets spent and what gets cut, which, as Steve noted at the top, this is a power that traditionally is supposed to be decided by Congress, and they're willing to cede much of that power in this moment more to the White House and President Trump.

[Adrian Florido]

All right.

[A. Martinez]

That's NPR political correspondent Susan Davis. Susan, thank you.

[Susan Davis]

You're welcome.

[A. Martinez]

And that's up first for Monday, March 10th a.m. a. Martinez and I'm Steve Inskeep.

[Steve Inskeep]

Thanks for joining us. For up first, you can find more in depth coverage of the stories we discussed and more on NPR's Morning Edition, the radio show that A. Martinez co hosts with Michelle Martin, Leila Fadel and myself me find Morning Edition on your local NPR station at stations.npr.org Today's episode.

[A. Martinez]

Of Up first was edited by Tara Neal, Kevin Drew Krishnadev Kalimor, Alice Wolfley and Mohamed Elvardisi. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is David Greenberg. Joining us again tomorrow.

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